Legacy of Gaia
by Shadowngel
Summary: (AU)Quistis, a member of the elite military force known as 'Garden,' is sent to destroy the rebel org. 'Forest Owls.' But upon capture, she is caught in a web of lies and illusions that may destroy her very way of life. Is it already too late? (Queifer)
1. Home, Sweet, Home

**Legacy of Gaia  
**Chapter 1: Home, Sweet, Home  
Author: Shadow@ngel  
superpinay@hotmail.com  
Summary: (AU) Quistis, one of the most elite soldiers in the high-profile alliance known as the Garden, is sent to destroy the rebel org. of the Forest Owls. But upon capture she is caught in a web of lies and conspiracies that may destroy her very way of life. Will she be able to find the truth and reveal it to the world before it's too late for the ff8 gang? (Queifer)  
Main couple: Queifer  
Secondary couples: Squinoa, Selvine,

Author's Note: Sorry. One of my first ff8 ficcies and not very good... I'd appreciate if you guys would help boost my confidence with sending some reviews my way. hehe. This chapter's just to get the background in. If I get enough reviews I'll post the next chapter. I guarantee the next chapter is when things really start to heat up. ^.^ Thanks guys!

*~*~*~*~*~*

The Garden. A Military Tactics center built to develop young men and women into perfect soldiers for purposes unknown.

Recruiters are dispersed out among the population to watch and observe. Their findings are brought back to a committee. If they are approved, they are sent up to a High Council that decides whether or not they are worth the trouble of 'kidnapping.'

I was recruited when I was 11.

They came to my house to ask permission to take my parent's daughter and train her in the most elite organization of our time. They came in and found chairs overturned, mirrors broken, windows shattered and the lifeless body of my mother laying on the dining room table. A little girl rushed out and found sanctuary with the strangers and her father came bounding out screaming explicative comments about young girls needing to be well behaved. I rushed over to the recruiters and hid behind them. Anything was better than staying with father. Even strangers that seemed to regard me with ice-cold stares and a stiff reserve that I later learned was the proper behavior of real soldiers and elite SeeD's.

"I don't want to die! Don't let daddy hurt me like he hurt Mom!" I pulled the woman's shirt violently. Her expression didn't change when I ruffled her uniform. She picked me up and she let me hug her neck for dear life while she pointed her finger at my father like a death sentence and told her subordinates to arrest that man.

I never saw my home again.

That woman who let me hold her. She told me her name was Edea. She was the only mother I knew after father killed my real one. I didn't see her often, though. She was high in rank and position. That meant she would often be busy with her own tasks and little Quisty, as she called me, wouldn't be able to spend time with her.

That's when I decided I would be up there too. I decided I wanted to be with her. I'd get promoted and I'd always be with mother. And I'd help save people like she did. They wouldn't have to suffer abuse like I did. If they had to, then the whole world was damned. I'd be someone's savior. I'd be someone's Edea too. And I'd take them in and they would never have to watch someone die like mother.

After a long trip on a train, more namely 6 hours, to the training center which they called a garden, I was brought to a dorm right away. Apparently, I was one of the rare recruits who were pre-selected by the High Council and that granted me immediate enrollment in the Garden. I wasn't sure I wanted it.

For about a year, I didn't speak a word to anyone except Edea and her husband Cid. I thought that maybe they would get sick of me and put me back at my home and give me a new mother. I knew it was far-fetched, but I wasn't too sure of what was right and wrong anymore.

My ambitions were blinded by my hate for the others. They were too goody-goody. They had no idea what things were all really like in the _real_ world where father's bonding time consisted of me getting him a beer while he ranted drunk and spaced out in front of the television, hoping his gambling would pay off.

But they liked me. And they wanted to keep me. So they reduced the tasks assigned to Cid and Edea. Their next assignment was to get me to straighten out and to get me to talk to everyone.

I started speaking to others after three weeks with them. My grades skyrocketed and I went on to advanced classes faster than most of the students combined.

By the third year of enrollment, when I was fourteen, I was made a SeeD. The High Council ranted and raved about their star student. I even developed a fan club. But it was a bit unruly, seeing as I was only fourteen going on fifteen very soon. But no one dared to try anything on me. I was dubbed 'Ice-Queen' and 'She-Bitch' by my peers. The second one used rarely, seeing as I beat the crap out of anyone I heard using it.

One day, I somehow gained the friendship of a stoic SeeD named Squall. Unspoken friendship was earned and shown when we walked together in silence to any classes we had together. We didn't speak much, but we didn't really need words, nor had any words to say, having our own dark pasts to deal with.

Then, some weeks later, he came to me shaken and scared. I had never seen him show any emotion whatsoever so I was scared out of my wits too. We pulled into an empty classroom where he told me he had witnessed something horrible and that they would find him.

I asked who and he shook his head.

"I've already said too much…If I tell you, you're gonna die too."

He told me to forget everything he told me and to pretend like everything was the same.

It wasn't. I didn't. Time passed.

He promised me that once his Commander knew what he had seen, he'd take care of everything. And it'd be okay.

Two days inched by before there was an announcement over the PA system to rally the students in the hall for a funeral. Everyone was shocked. No one knew.

Suicide. It was a closed casket. Apparently, he had jumped off a balcony and it was only three hours later that it was considered a suicide.

I didn't cry for Squall.

But that didn't mean it didn't hurt either.

But I still thought he was alive somewhere because when I returned to my dorm room that day, I found his ring on my desk. Inside the ring was a rolled up piece of paper that told me, _Wait for me. I'll be back, I promise. Whatever happens, don't say a word. I'm going to find a way to make them pay for hurting Xu._

Yes, Xu_._ A computer whiz about two years older than me. She looked me over one day, wanted to see for herself just how supposedly great Balamb Garden's prodigy really was.

Over time she found me worthy and she taught me the ropes on hacking at my request.

But of course, she didn't last long anyway. She disappeared. Never seen again.

Life went on.

They taught me that people died every day.

They had a point.

They taught me that SeeD's were elite soldiers in the battle for freedom and justice.

They knew we believed in them.

They taught me that if I was going to survive, there were times when I had to keep low, stay smart and be sharp.

By God, they were right.

Well?? Whadda ya think?


	2. Home on the Range

**Legacy of Gaia  
**Chapter 2: Home on the Range  
Author: Shadow@ngel  
superpinay@hotmail.com  
Summary: (AU) Quistis, one of the most elite soldiers in the high-profile alliance known as the Garden, is sent to destroy the rebel org. of the Forest Owls. But upon capture she is caught in a web of lies and conspiracies that may destroy her very way of life. Will she be able to find the truth and reveal it to the world before it's too late for the ff8 gang? (Queifer)  
Main couple: Queifer  
Secondary couples: Squinoa, Selvine,

Author's Note: HI guys- I'm back for the second chapter and I'm here to kick butt. Here's introducing Quistis's position in the garden and the current situation with the rebels. This Chapter is just before the mission sets out. So hang on because next chapter is when the action starts. (No really! I promise! This time I mean it. lol!) 

*~*~*~*~*~*

I got my first job about several weeks before my fifteenth birthday. Apparently, there was a small troop of rebels who resisted the SeeD organization, accusing its members of abusing their authority. 

The group was growing fast and their resistance would have proven to be a problem if we didn't attack the situation soon. I even overheard many of the officials talking about this, so I knew this was a serious problem. The fact that I was assigned onto this mission was a bit mind-boggling though. If this was such a big issue, why was a newly promoted student like me going on a mission? I didn't have a lot of experience or anything… it almost seemed like they were saving and training me for this mission. It was a nice thought that they had thought so highly of me. 

But this still didn't erase the fact that this was my first real field mission outside of the garden. Something like this was big and I couldn't ignore the urgency my field-mates were displaying. They tried to hide it of course, but I could tell that they were just as worried as I was.

It was about two months before the mission when I found out that my teammate would be the infamous Irvine Kinneas: the Garden's most skilled sharpshooter, and a well known lady's man. 

I griped about it to myself for a while, but I guess it could've been worse. I might have gotten stuck with someone much worse than that. But I didn't want to elaborate on the subject, seeing as I might have jinxed myself into getting stuck with some goof with yet another over-inflated ego. Irvine wasn't that bad, I guess. 

The boy was just a little ... 

"Hey! Any of you know who Quistis is!?" called a voice. I looked up from my novel and noticed someone standing in the center of a circle of swooning girls. 

Well… a little loud… I shoved my face lower into the novel and shrank into the bench to avoid being seen. All I wanted was some peace and quiet. I wasn't in the mood for any hormonal dip or anything they had up their sleeve to court me with. 

Besides- the girls hated competition. If they knew I was going on a mission with Irvine, they'd come gunning for me. Those stupid, preppy bi- 

"Heey! Does anyone know who Quistis is at all!?!?" There was a silence and the people around the hall quieted down a bit. 

"Yeah I know who she is, why?" someone answered. I knew immediately they were pointing straight at me and I massaged the side of my head with my free hand. 

"Nevermind..." he said, sounding a bit odd. He seemed really cocky, like he had already found me. I scowled into my book, thinking to myself about what an egomaniac he must've been. 

A shadow fell over me and I slowly looked up surprisingly into a fifteen-year-old boy's face. He smirked and slipped the book out of my hands and read the summary on the back cover. 

"So you must be miss Trepe," he said. I turned red for no reason at all and I snatched the book back, shoving it in the pack that sat beside me. I shot to my feet and slipped the pack on my right shoulder. 

"Yes. That would be me," I said, already beginning to feel the glares from the girls behind him. "What do you want?" The glares intensified when they noticed my 'insolence' towards their 'baby.' 

"Aren't you a little young to be a SeeD?" he asked, tipping his hat and scratching his head. The majority of the girls flew off to dreamland staring at him and worshipping his smallest gestures. I sighed impatiently, the contempt for his admirers clear as day on my face. Irvine, luckily was smarter than he was made out to be and he took my arm (despite my reluctance) and escorted me out of the room away from the Irvine hungry lunatics. 

"Aren't _you_?" I asked him, referring to his earlier question. Irvine laughed, "I guess I kind of deserved that." 

"That's right, you did," I said, "What do you want from me? So I'm going on a mission with you. So what?" I had been found and I wasn't in the mood to play games. I resented people who beat around the bush just for the hell of it. People don't live very long, and the least their fellow students can do is to get straight to the point. 

Irvine raised his eyebrow in response. "Geeze, hon, stop being so hostile. I just want to get acquainted with my teammates. That's all," he said, "It's best to know what and who you're working with right? Well… it also helps to know that one is actually within two years of my age." He laughed again. I wasn't amused, but I was starting to get the feel that this guy might have actually had a brain. A change from the usual raging nut who thought he could woo me with a wave of his hand.

"That's nice… but seriously," I said, "What do you want?" 

"Honest! That's all! An honor, especially a pretty girl like you," he said from out of nowhere. I shook my head and waved him off. He took off his hat and did a little bow in front of me. I shoved him and headed off to my next class about an hour earlier than I wanted to. "I shoulda known!" I walked off with a smile on my face. 

Yes. That was exactly how I met Irvine. The shot-gun slinging cowboy who easily took the place of a forgotten boy named Squall. I was lonely at the time, and I wasn't aware of my latent desperation to have someone fill the absence of the supposedly deceased recruit.

My warped sense of morality told me that it was okay for me to do it. I was hurting so bad and I didn't even know it until I had him walking next to me on a daily basis, exploring his master plan to take over the world and form a superior military force completely consisting of supermodels from Baywatch.

Time passed once more. I got a tad bit attached to him and he seemed a bit attached to me as well. I couldn't go anywhere without Irvine asking about where I was going. At times, it was a bit unnerving and annoying, but other times I found it comforting that he wanted to know where I was at all times. The boy was anxious to be by my side and to follow in my shadow. 

The girls did get jealous, but they didn't have the guts to pull anything other than sending me evil looks. But I guess everything was okay.

"Trepe, are you ready?" the commander turned towards me as I nodded. We were waiting in the field in front of the Garden, waiting for the troops to report. We were just about to set out on the mission. "Good. Seems like you're the only one though." He frowned at the casually marching students coming out of the Garden. 

I was already by his side awaiting my next orders. "Comm-," I said. "Call me Laguna." he replied. "Uh..Yes sir. L -Laguna… sir…" the sound was foreign on my tongue. "Laguna." I said to myself one more time. He heard me and laughed softly. 

I looked up at him with some admiration. He was a widely renowned soldier and the fact that he transferred to Balamb permanently was such a great honor. I had heard so much about him, and now that I had actually met him, I was in awe. 

Suddenly He stiffened his voice to that of the formal commander we had all heard about. Commander Loire… Irvine called him a 'tough bloke.' And speaking of Irvine, he came walking out and it was about two minutes after he came to a stop beside me did Comman- Sir Laguna turn his gun towards the sky and shot about three times. The loud noise caught the attention of everyone within the vicinity of two miles. 

He raised his voice, "SeeD's, you quit dawdling and get your asses over here. This isn't some stupid training session, this is the real thing. If any of you aren't at the gates in ten seconds I'll have you all demoted to a 1st level cadet!" 

A mass of about a dozen students came rushing out of the Garden's front doors and came to a stop huffing and puffing at his feet. Irvine laughed and copied the Commander in shouldering his gun. I pulled at Irvine's mask and it slipped down just beneath his chin.

"You don't always have to wear that, you know." Irvine raised his brow in reply. He shrugged. "I like this mask. Besides, what do you care? Coming on to me now? Think I'm sexy without my mask, huh?" 

"Dork." I told him, "That's not it and you know it. How do you breathe with it on?" 

"It's easy. Don't sweat it. It's just a piece of fabric, hon. I can breathe just fine," and with that, he took his mask and pulled it back over the bridge of his nose. Irvine and I stopped our chattering to take notice of another SeeD checking us out. The group of SeeD's were eyeing us and one even stepped up to Laguna to ask a question.

"Commander?" asked one of the SeeD's. He was about a foot taller than both me and Irvine and his jet-black hair was longer than both ours put together. 

"What's your problem Red?" Laguna narrowed his eyes and turned to Red. Red's friends shifted uneasily as they alternated their gazes between Irvine and myself. 

"How old are they? Are you sure they're supposed to be on our squad?" Irvine and I tensed up. Our tempers were something to behold. 

Without looking, Laguna said, "Quistis. You take your hands off your whip. Irvine, you put that gun back in its holster. Now. You watch your damn tempers. And Red. Shut your mouth. They may be on the short side of the age scale, but when it comes to battle tactics, they can whip you around and beat you so fast, you wont know what hit you. The team selects were straight from the Council. You want to take it up with them?" 

"N-no sir!" He stuttered, shocked that we were picked by the High Council. I was a little in shock myself that Irvine and I were chosen out of a wide range of students. "You want to ask them to take off Quistis and Irvine?" 

"No sir!"

"That's what I thought. Now I don't want you making another remark about their age or their training. If I get wind of you complaining, I'll have you scrapped off this mission, do you hear me?" 

"Yes, commander, I hear you." He said and stiffened. Irvine and I turned to each other. Our expressions were near duplicates of each other. 

"What?" Laguna said. "Louder, son, I can't hear a word." 

"I hear you!" He said and raised his voice. "That's better." Laguna hitched up his pack and waved his hand, "Okay, if everyone's got everything they need, we're going to head out. If there's anything you want to get, get it now because we aint turning around. You forget your underwear, I don't care. You forget it, you're going commando." A moment passed and no one spoke.

"Okay, troops. Let's head out!" 

Review review review!!!! Hehehe… I CRAVE REVIEWS- hehe…


	3. The First Losses

**Legacy of Gaia  
**Chapter 3: The First Losses   
Author: Shadow@ngel  
superpinay@hotmail.com  
Summary: (AU) Quistis, one of the most elite soldiers in the high-profile alliance known as the Garden, is sent to destroy the rebel org. of the Forest Owls. But upon capture she is caught in a web of lies and conspiracies that may destroy her very way of life. Will she be able to find the truth and reveal it to the world before it's too late for the ff8 gang? (Queifer)  
Main couple: Queifer  
Secondary couples: Squinoa, Selvine,

Author's Note: Bwahahah! Seifer's finally in this one!... yeesh... how the heck am I going to reveal such a frikkn complicated plot into this ficcy!? Heaven's alive, I'm doomed! Hm... maybe I need a cowriter or something. or maybe a REALLY good beta reader perhaps! hehe... Here's where you guys email me at superpinay@hotmail.com if you wanna help my pathetic little story with its plot. 

*~*~*~*~*~*

Red, like the idiot he was, made the trip hell.

He continually made remarks to us about being babies and inexperienced until we were clenching our fists, our knuckles turning white.

Finally, after countless hours on the train, we decided to take care of him. We were far too pissed about the long ride to put up with any crap he wanted to pull.

When we got off the private train we had taken, Laguna gave us a brief twenty minutes as a break to walk around and stretch our legs, buy some supplies, etc.

The both of us were minding out own business when even Lady Luck decided that Red was an asshole and needed someone to smack him. He came to torment us alone and Irvine and I looked at each other at the precise moment before we reached out, grabbed him and threw him into a supplies closet. He was surprised at our strength and reflexes because we hadn't been in battle yet and he wasn't good enough to tell how good someone was by their reflexes alone.

And that's when the commander walked in to find me holding down Red with the ball of my foot while securing his hands with my whip and Irvine in the midst of giving a nuclear wedgie to the poor boy. The other SeeD's wandered one by one behind Laguna, who had started to scream his head off about proper conduct but still couldn't help but laugh at Red's disposition of being picked on by a pair of fourteen-year-olds. Even the civilians behind us…. Or I like to call them civs…. were stopping to stare. Laguna abruptly sent them on their way with a, "Move! This isn't any of your business!"

But of course he was too focused on screaming at me to notice Irvine 'dropping' a can of bright blue metallic paint all over Red.

Irvine had already slipped the paint can back on its proper place on the shelf by the time Laguna turned to him to give him his lecture.

Needless to say, Red was a bit sour when it came to giving his looks, but I wasn't sure whether it was because he was scared of us or just embarrassed because he looked like a smurf. Whatever it was, he sure brought the remarks down to a minimum.

He learned early that there was a reason we had become SeeD's at fourteen, I guess.

Anyway, the time came when we were starting to approach our destination.

We were on the final train before we were supposed to travel on foot to destroy the rebel alliance known as the Forest Owls. The air was tense and I suspected that even Laguna knew we were all nervous as hell.

"Quisty, you okay?" someone asked. It was Irvine. He stood from his seat across from me and sat beside me. The bright red seats sank down as the weight shifted from my side to his. I lifted my head off the back of the chair and focused on him.

"Huh? …Don't call me Quisty," I said casually. Irvine smiled under his mask and leaned back in his chair, his ankle resting on his knee.

"How cute. Little Quisty is growing up and wants to drop the nickname! I'm just bursting with pride! She's just growing up so fast, it brings a tear to my eye…" He mock-sobbed and Laguna did what sounded like a mild snicker.

"Shut up. I'm older than you." I said, referring to our emotional ages. I laughed when he yelled,

"Older?!"

Laguna's hand shot out in front of Irvine and hit the wall. Irvine looked just about as scared as hell, but it took him two seconds to realize Laguna wasn't trying to hit Irvine, he was trying to steady himself. The train gave an incredibly forceful lurch forward. Irvine and I were nearly thrown off our seats and the screeching of the brakes was loud in our ears.

We were nearing the end of our wait. Laguna, who was staying in our small cabin to keep an eye on us, stood from his seat and headed out the door. Irvine and I followed, eager to find out what all the commotion was about.

When we stepped out, Laguna held out his hand to stop us. We did and gave him a questioning look. He seemed focused on the head of the train.

"Sir?"

"Shhh… something's wrong," he said. We looked down the section of the train. There was a flash of blue uniforms outside through the windows. It was just for a second, but all three of our eyes managed to catch the movement at once. "I knew there was a reason there were no other passengers on this train…Ready your weapons. It's a trap."

We knew exactly what he was talking about.

The train was a decoy. They probably knew we were going to take this train. They emptied it beforehand to minimize civ casualties. An attack was imminent.

"Quisty, battle tactic 4- 6?" Irvine said. "He's light on his feet…. He's trained."

Laguna shook his head. "No. I think there's more than one. 4-6 isn't one that can handle a group. We're going with formation 8- sec 04, got it?" he whispered. Irvine and I nodded. I stretched out my whip and Irvine cocked his shotgun. We waited in silence, our heart rates skyrocketing.

When the window shattered and several figures jumped inside, Irvine shot off to the left and ducked just in time for the flying shuriken to fly past and graze his trench coat.

A woman stood at the head of the train. The she caught the shuriken upon its return to her. I ducked under the next attack of the shuriken and sent her flying back with an uppercut to the jaw. She hit the floor, but her reinforcements flooded into the train with amazing speed.

"Fool!" she cried and before I could step back to get out of her way, two strong arms flew up and held my shoulders at bay.

"Lieh, hold it!" The woman stopped her hand in mid air, inches away from my face. The shuriken-handler made eye contact with my captor and they frowned at each other.

"Child … !" the woman said, hitching her shuriken to her belt. She had an eye-patch over her right eye and an extremely short haircut that accented the outline of her face. She brushed her pale, blue hair out of her good eye.

"The hell they doing recruiting kids!??" cried the man holding me. I looked up at him on my knees and caught a glimpse of a scar running across his face and his golden colored hair. He looked down at me and we stared at each other. For a moment I was caught up in his image and even the sun that shined through the shattered windows favored to light up his face.

He was probably about my age if not older…

Irvine's shotgun was fired three times before I broke out of the trance and threw a strategic blow to his shin with my heel. He cursed and stumbled back, leaving enough room to clear a path for me to escape.

"We're retreating! Now!" Laguna's voice. If I wanted to get out of there alive, I was going to have to find my own way out. I knew that they had to leave, otherwise both their lives would be sacrificed in vain. And there was a small group of the rebels between Irvine and Laguna and myself so I knew I was on my own.

"No! What about Quisty!" Irvine cried.

"We're getting out of here. There's too many. We can't fight in this crowded space… we'll regroup in the forest! We're not going to jeopardize the mission! " Laguna had to grab him by the waist. He kicked the door open and the two leapt out and I heard their retreating footsteps outside. There were several more shots.

I leapt over the blonde's form, desperately hoping no one would get in my way. My weapon wouldn't help me in such a tight situation and it would take too long to retrieve. Apparently, in all the scrambling I had lost grip of it and had dropped it somewhere. I didn't bother to look. I could always be assigned another whip when I returned to the Garden. But I still cursed my inexperience.

I rushed towards the nearest exit, hearing only the clanging of my rubber boots on the rusted metal floor. I saw Irvine and Laguna running away from the train and making for the cover of the bright green foliage lining the track not fifty yards away.

Irvine luckily glanced back and stopped when he saw me at the door. Laguna did as well and knelt down on one knee to provide me with cover fire as I ran to meet them. I was stopped short as I jumped to the ground. The woman was one step ahead of me and before my feet touched the ground, she grabbed me in a chokehold and brought me down.

"Don't let the girl go!" I heard the blonde behind her say. "They'll be back for her." He raised what I knew was a gunblade and fired at Laguna and Irvine. I watched in horror as Irvine's right shoulder was suddenly stained in red and he fell to the ground. Laguna picked him up dragged him into the woods with all the strength he could muster.

"Irvine!" I cried. I nearly broke the woman's hold on me, "Bastards!"

"Kaio!" the woman said, struggling to keep me still.

"Lieh, shut her up," he said and walked away. I felt a sharp pain as she knocked me out and I faded out of consciousness.

Yet another really bad chapter... yeck... oh well.. at least I got more than five reviews on my last 1. Hopefully now that the plot is pretty much moving alone, it'll attract a bit more readers? Hm. We'll see.


End file.
